{"id":255285,"date":"2021-07-02T13:03:45","date_gmt":"2021-07-02T17:03:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=255285"},"modified":"2021-07-02T13:03:45","modified_gmt":"2021-07-02T17:03:45","slug":"un-women-helps-vulnerable-women-find-jobs-in-battle-against-covid-19-un-women-article","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/un-women-helps-vulnerable-women-find-jobs-in-battle-against-covid-19-un-women-article\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Women Helps Vulnerable Women Find Jobs in Battle Against COVID-19 – UN Women Article"},"content":{"rendered":"

Date:\u00a0<\/strong>Friday, July 2, 2021<\/p>\n

\n
\u201cI graduated from a nursing school three years ago and I could not find a job,\u201d said 25-year-old Rana* from Jerusalem. \u201cMy mother heard about a nurse training and encouraged me to apply, so I did. I learned a lot of things that I had not studied at school, such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation, which were very beneficial.\u201d<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Along with 60 unemployed nurses, Rana took part in a UN Women-supported project that aims to reinforce women\u2019s leadership and participation in emergency response, including\u00a0COVID-19<\/a>,\u00a0and equitable recovery. This project is part of a larger programme on \u201cAdvancing the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda in Palestine.\u201d Generously funded by Norway, this project aims at supporting the Palestinian institutions and civil society in implementing a National Action Plan (NAP) on UN Security Council Resolution 1325, and increasing women\u2019s participation in emergency response and post-conflict recovery. NAPs can be critical tools in the battle against COVID-19. For example, a\u00a0UN Women analysis<\/a>\u00a0found that almost half of Palestine\u2019s first NAP to be in line with the UN framework for the immediate socio-economic response to COVID-19.<\/p>\n

The project has increased the employability of young women who have recently graduated from nursing schools to ultimately find jobs at health facilities in marginalized areas severely affected by COVID-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhereas at university our learning was more theoretical, this training focused on practical learning and tasks,\u201d says 25-year-old Hanadi* with a bachelor\u2019s degree in nursing from a Gazan university. \u201cIt also increased my professional experience and increased my abilities and knowledge of work environment. Now I feel more qualified to apply for jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Implemented by partners in the West Bank and Gaza, Juzoor and the Palestinian Centre for Democracy and Conflict Resolution (PCDCR) respectively, the capacity building includes medical and non-medical skills as well as skills designed to help young graduates navigate the job market and application process and gain on-the-job experience through internships. To ensure the training responds to the needs of the health sector and patients, UN Women\u2019s partners held talks with potential employers and officials at the Ministry of Health in Ramallah. Their feedback informed the design of trainings to maximize the trainees\u2019 chances of being hired.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project will be a replicable model to continue supporting women and engage them in recovery efforts,\u201d says Dr. Umayah Khammash, Director of Juzoor. \u201cSupporting new generations of unemployed women graduates with economic opportunities will eventually lead to their deployment to the health sector at a time when they are really needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs interns, we get real experience and deal with real cases as if we were employees. Now we have a lot of knowledge so when we get hired, we hit the ground running,\u201d says 21-old-year Samah* from the West Bank. \u201cFor example, we have also learned about the importance of data collection to combat the pandemic. We were also sent to screening centres to see how samples were taken.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics<\/a>, seven out of ten Palestinian men are in the labour force, and only two out of ten women are currently working. Youth in general, and women in particular struggle to find jobs after graduation.<\/p>\n

COVID-19 has burdened an already depleted and fragile health system, which was suffering from a widespread shortage of resources, and human resources in particular. A study conducted by Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute in 2018 found that there was a significant shortage of nurses. Due to COVID-19 measures and restrictions, health workers who have been in contact with COVID-19 patients need to quarantine at home after their exposure, aggravating the shortage in the health workforce. Some of the project\u2019s trainees filled in for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have gained a lot of experience through my internships. I also filled in for nurses who were in quarantine. I have learned a lot about how to deal with patients while taking precautionary measures to protect myself and others and I tried to spread this knowledge around me,\u201d says 20-year-old Jumana* from Jenin (West Bank) who was part of the group.<\/p>\n

While most of the health workers on the frontlines are women, their voices are rarely heard in decision-making. The training provided participants with the opportunity to learn about the importance of women\u2019s participation in decision-making so that they can shape decisions that benefit the whole society, men and women.<\/p>\n

\u201cDecisions are sometimes made by men only without consulting women. But women have a role too,\u201d says 26-year-old Samah* from Gaza with a diploma in nursing. \u201cOne of the most important things I leaned during the training, especially as a Palestinian who lives under the occupation, is the importance of women\u2019s political and economic participation. This training has motivated me to learn more about women’s positive contribution to peacebuilding and conflict resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGender equality and women\u2019s empowerment are not only essential for the full attainment of women\u2019s economic rights but also for tackling crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic,\u201d says Saeed Al Maqadma, Director of PCDCR. \u201cThis project has contributed to increasing job opportunities for women and girls and enhanced their ability to help manage the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Palestine, like elsewhere, women health workers make up the majority of the first responders to the pandemic,\u201d says Ms. Maryse Guimond, UN Women Special Representative for Palestine. \u201cTo effectively respond to the pandemic and recover from it without leaving anyone behind, we also need to ensure that their indispensable contribution on the ground is equally reflected in decision-making.\u201d<\/p>\n

*Name changed to protect survivor privacy and confidentiality.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Date:\u00a0Friday, July 2, 2021 \u201cI graduated from a nursing school three years ago and I could not find a job,\u201d said 25-year-old Rana* from Jerusalem. \u201cMy mother heard about a nurse training and encouraged me to apply, so I did. I learned a lot of things that I had not studied at school, such as […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"template-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[2453],"document-source":[2481],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1945,1937,6257,2533,1841],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[],"class_list":["post-255285","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-article","document-source-un-women","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-economic-issues","document-subject-gender","document-subject-health","document-subject-women","entity-united-nations-system"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/255285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/255285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=255285"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=255285"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=255285"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=255285"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=255285"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=255285"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=255285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}